


Diego's First Kiss(es)

by multishippingtrashfire



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Bisexual Diego Hargreeves, Bisexual Male Character, F/M, First Kiss, M/M, Not Beta'd, bisexual awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26189086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multishippingtrashfire/pseuds/multishippingtrashfire
Summary: Diego was 14 when he first kissed a girl. Diego was 20 when he first kissed a guy.Or Diego's Bisexual Awakening
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves/Original Female Character(s), Diego Hargreeves/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 98





	Diego's First Kiss(es)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is my first ever story, so any constructive criticism, please let me know. This story was not beta'd so if you notice any mistakes, let me know and i'll fix it. I just wanted to give Diego some love and he's my bisexual king. Come squeal with me about him on tumblr! https://multishippingtrashfire.tumblr.com
> 
> Zoey is Zoey Deschanel and Lance is Lance Gross.

**_2003_ **

Diego was 14 when he first kissed a girl. The night started out the way it usually does, with Klaus sneaking out because he can’t take another minute in the Academy. With Klaus sneaking out, Ben decides he has to go with Klaus because Ben knows Klaus is reckless, and he feels it is his personal responsibility to make sure Klaus gets home safely. Diego, as the second oldest and protective of his two brothers, feels as though it is his responsibility to make sure that Ben gets home safe too, so at 11pm, they all sneak out. 

They end up at the park, where a small party seems to be taking place. It’s just a bunch of other 14 year olds, smoking weed, drinking and making out, hanging off the various playground equipment and throwing red solo cups around, while a stereo is playing the radio in the background. Klaus fits right in, always ready for a good time, a moment to quiet the spirits. He’s already dancing, swinging a bottle of what looks like Jack Daniels and he took a hit off a blunt before he even started drinking. He’s the life of the party and everyone already loves him; they never even question where he came from. 

Diego and Ben don’t fit in quite as easily.

They aren’t really sure how to mesh with this new crowd of people and honestly Diego is afraid to speak, because he doesn’t want to stutter and embarrass himself. So instead he chooses to migrate to a swingset a little off to the left, deciding to really just observe, mainly for danger but also because he doesn’t know how a party really happens. He sips on the solo cup and pulls a face at the taste of its contents but says nothing. His intense focus on watching Klaus and Ben’s figures is interrupted by a girl sitting in the swing next to his. 

He’ll swear she didn’t startle him but truthfully? She did. 

Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. In the dim lights from the park, it looked like it was black and her eyes are truthfully what really pulled him. It was two of the bluest eyes Diego had ever seen and they had flecks of brown throughout too. He doesn’t even realize he’s staring until she starts waving her hand in his face.

“Huh?” Diego blurts out, realizing she said something

“I said these stupid parties suck. And then you looked like I started doing Umbrella kids tricks.” She snorts, taking a sip of her drink. And for the first time Diego is reminded that this is kind of awesome, he’s not Number 2 of the Umbrella Academy, he’s just Diego.

He takes a deep breath and nods, choosing the strong silent route, at least until he can get his thoughts under control. And with his thoughts under control, his words would come out clearer, that’s what Mom always told him.

“Quiet type? Me too usually.” She offers up, kicking her legs a bit in front of her. “I’m Zoey.”

“Diego.” He responds. His name was the first word he worked on with Mom. If nothing else, he was determined to say that without his stutter. 

“Nice to meet you, Diego.” She tosses him a lopsided smile and Diego realizes he’s started holding his breath, and that his heart is beating abnormally fast. He’s never been this close to a girl who wasn’t his sister. She's pretty.

“Where do you go to school?” She inquires, cocking her head to the side.

He takes a deep breath, visualizes the words in his head but it still comes out as “Pri-Private Sch-School”. He drops his head in shame. He feels like a fucking idiot. He’s too old to be tripping over his words like this. 

But Zoey just nods, acts like she didn’t hear the stuttering. “Cool. I go to public but I skip all the time. School feels like a waste, all they do is teach you to be the same as the person next to you.” She looks off thoughtfully. And Diego just nods again. Before he realizes it, they’ve been sitting in each other’s silence for 10 minutes, just swinging back and forth. And it’s nice. 

She startles him again, when she grabs at his hand. He blinks at her owlishy and she just looks at him, waiting. He realizes she’s waiting for him to show his consent. And he has butterflies in his stomach, so he squeezes her hand and smiles back at her. 

It’s another 10 minutes of comfortable silence, just feeling Zoey’s hand in his own, when she stops swinging. 

“You should kiss me.” She states boldly, but Diego can feel the tremor in her hand too. He’s holding his breath and his heart is beating impossibly fast and Diego realizes he’s about to kiss a girl. 

He gulps, nods and starts leaning over. Before he makes it in for the kiss, he closes his eyes, too nervous to look at her now. And then their lips touch. It’s gentle, a soft brush of the lips and for the first time, Diego can smell her hair and whatever perfume she’s wearing. It smells like cupcakes. He feels like he might be falling in love. 

She pulls back and smiles shyly. And Diego feels his cheeks start to pink. He just kissed a girl. A girl wanted to kiss him and did. 

Before he can enjoy the moment more, he hears Klaus and Ben shouting his name as they sprint towards him. The panic in his brother’s faces, makes him bolt upright, breaking his handlock with Zoey. He feels himself slipping into Number 2 mode, his hand moving to the knives tucked on his side, ready to eliminate whatever threat coming for his brothers. 

“Gotta go! Gotta go now!” and “Someone called the police!” are being said overtop of one another and for the first time, Diego notices the quick movements of the other teenagers as they begin to scatter to all directions of the park. Diego hears the distinct _whop whop_ of a cop car siren as the flashing red and blue lights come into view. 

By now, Zoey’s jumped up too and poured their cups out in the grass. Klaus and Ben start pulling him away and he never gets to say anything to Zoey, as he pulled off. He waves dumbly and she whisper-yells a quick “Bye Diego!” and then it’s back to the Academy. 

That night Diego smiles as he lays in bed, touching his own lips and replaying their moment over and over. _Zoey_

**_2009_ **

Diego was starting to notice that something was...off about himself. 

At this point in his life, he tells people he’s had a long list of hookups. It’s easier than admitting he’s really only had one and it lasted all of a week before Diego began to fear the intimacy he was craving. That was a year after Ben died and it was easier to explain to the woman that he didn’t want to date anymore than to explain why in a week's time, he’d be uncontrollably sobbing for at least a week, as the one-year anniversary approached. 

He, Klaus and Ben had always been closest, and now it was just him. He hadn’t heard from Klaus in months and at this point, each time he saw him hurt more than the last. His little brother was addicted to all kinds of drugs, and had done all sorts of illicit things to get those drugs. Klaus couldn’t go one day without a substance, be it alcohol or drugs, but it was always a party for him. Diego wanted to help him and a couple times Klaus had agreed to be helped, and when Diego woke up the next morning, he was nowhere to be found. The first few times, Diego had gotten up and scoured the city for him, checking alleyways, known drug hideouts, hospitals, everywhere. After the fifth time Klaus had done this, Diego didn’t see the point, he wouldn’t find him anyway. He just hoped each time, his brother was still alive. 

But in the meantime, Diego kept to himself for the most part, save for when he decided to fight for the people of New York, since the police let more than their fair share of crime fall through the cracks. In the last couple months, he got Al from the boxing gym to agree to let him move into the boiler room. Partially, Diego thinks it's just as thanks from when Diego stopped some muggers from getting him after he was locking up. Either way, Diego was grateful for the space to himself. 

Diego _liked_ his boiler room. It was all his. In the depths of the boxing gym, he could make noise (he didn’t), have as many people over as he wanted (he didn’t) and do whatever he wanted with the space (he was a simple man, with simple tastes). 

And then one morning there was this _guy_ in the gym. Guys being in the gym wasn’t unusual, but this guy was different, because Diego thinks he may be attracted to him. He’s tall, taller than Diego, broad shouldered, tattoos covering his chest. He was all hard muscle and he was beating the hell out of the punching bag in front of him. He had dark skin, a short cut hairstyle and the deepest brown eyes that Diego had ever seen. His focus as he trained made Diego swallow thickly, before he shook his head to stop from starring. He made a beeline for the door, and hoped that this guy was just practicing here as a one off. 

He wasn’t. 

His name was Lance, it turns out. Al told him that while helping reposition the punching bags after closing. He was new in town, making a name for himself in the mid-level boxing circuit and could be looking to go pro. He was young, just 21 and found Al’s because he lives around the corner. Diego didn’t respond to this information verbally, choosing to purse his lips instead and nod. 

Later that night, Diego wondered if finding Lance attractive was a fluke. He hoped so. 

The next morning, Diego came upstairs to the gym and Lance was back, practicing his dodging in the ring with Al. He was shirtless again and focused. And Diego was starring again. He was broken out of his trance by Al telling Diego to answer the damn phone, ringing near the desk. Diego hadn’t even heard it, but sprinted over, and picked up. The call was asking specifically for Al and it sounded like an equally grouchy older man, so rather than deal with telling him Al was busy, he approached the ring. 

“It’s for you!” He coughed, interrupting the drill Al was working with Lance, holding out the phone. 

“Who’s calling?” Al questioned, as he pulled his hands from the training mitts. Lance was in the background chest heaving, taking this moment to catch his breath. 

“Tommy, I think?” Diego shrugged as he passed it over and Al took the phone, stepping to the other side of the ring, leaving Diego and Lance on this side. 

Master of subtly that he was, Diego looked everywhere but Lance, glancing at the rafters, the other parts of the gym, the windows, the lockers, the door to the basement, everywhere. 

“Hey.” Diego snapped his head around to face the only person that ‘Hey’ could have belonged to. Lance. 

“Hi.” 

“I’m Lance.” He extended his hand and gave Diego an award winning smile. His teeth were so white and straight and perfect. And Diego was holding his breath. 

“Diego” was all he managed before Al was back and Diego was able to retreat before Lance could see his blushing cheeks. 

_I’m so fucked_

Diego had never thought he’d be the one of his siblings to experience a sexuality crisis. It would’ve made more sense for Vanya or even Five, but him? No way. Diego was always certain about who he was. _He was Number 2 of the Umbrella Academy, he was Diego Hargreeves, he was 20 years old, and he was attracted to women...and men, it appears._ In a moment like this, Diego really missed Ben, or even Klaus. Klaus who was never scared of the things that he liked or what anyone thought of them and would advise Diego to be just as carefree. Or Ben, who gave the best advice and was the most level-headed Hargreeves sibling, who would talk him through what this means (if anything), and listen to Diego as he questioned his world out loud. He couldn’t even visit Mom or else he’d have to see his father, and seeing his dad in the midst of his sexual identity crisis sounded worse than pulling off his toenails with a spoon. 

So it was just Diego and his sexuality and the crisis of it all. 

The next day started much like the two days before it, except Diego was sleep deprived from being up all night trying to sort through his sexuality, and he was maybe hearing Klaus’ voice in his head just a little bit. He spent half the night wondering about if all those times he took more than two glances at a guy, he actually found them attractive. The second half, he tried to go through every man he could think of to come up with his ‘type’. He really missed Klaus. 

Diego came up the stairs and found Lance was training, running a drill on the bag again, but Al was nowhere to be seen. At 7am, the gym was deserted; it looked like it was just Lance here alone. Diego looked around the gym once more before Lance stopped his drills and addressed him. 

“Al said he had to run an errand but that it was cool for me to practice here.” He huffed out. He was shirtless again. Diego should institute a ‘shirt required’ policy, because this was starting to feel like a trap. Maybe a just general ‘no Lance’, because at this point, Diego doubted the shirt would help much anyway. It didn’t help he could just hear Klaus’ voice talking about licking _stuff_. He really really should’ve slept more last night. 

“Oh okay. Yeah that’s fine.” Diego nodded, walking toward the desk to start doing the small clerical stuff he agreed for Al. 

“So how long have you worked here?” Diego looked up and found that Lance decided this was his moment to take a break, sitting on one for the benches. 

“Uh” Diego swallowed, willing himself not to stutter but he was nervous. “A couple months”. In that moment, Diego thanked every deity in existence. 

“Oh cool. Do you live in this neighborhood?” Lance asked, all casual and with a kind smile. 

“Yeah…” Diego nodded slowly, wondering if he should divulge that he lived here. In that moment he heard Klaus telling him to take a risk, so he did. “Actually, I live in the gym.” He rushed the words out before he lost his nerve. 

“Oh that’s awesome! Do you box?” Lance asked excitedly and Diego felt his heartbeat speed up. 

“Uhh, sometimes. Not too much.” Diego ducked his head down, so he could try to catch his breath even for a second. 

“That’s cool too.” Lance nodded and then he was up approaching Diego and Diego stopped breathing. “We should hang out sometime.” Diego only got to stare at him wide-eyed, before the door to the gym was banging open and Al was walking in, complaining about some idiot who couldn’t watch where he was going. Once Diego turned back around, Lance was back near the bag, re-wrapping his knuckles. 

While Al went about putting his coat down and continuing his rant, Diego hears Klaus again. _Be bold, Di._

And while Diego still had Klaus’ nerve, he walked up to Lance and said “Yeah, we should. Tonight?” 

And Lance smiled and nodded. 

**_Tonight_ **

Diego will never admit how long he spent in the mirror, making sure his outfit didn’t scream part-time vigilante, former superhero. He just wanted to exude as much normalcy as possible. He settled on a black shirt, some black jeans and boots. He was still Diego, afterall. In the mirror, he told himself that he may like men, and that’s okay. And that this all may be a fun experiment and he could be perfectly straight too. 

Then he realizes, Lance never actually said this was a date and Diego is dry heaving trying to figure out what he’s doing. And then he gets a message from Lance saying he’s outside. 

Diego doesn’t have time to backout anymore. 

He takes a deep breath and heads upstairs, where he opens up the side entrance that Lance said he was waiting at. He came in a white t-shirt, with a brown leather jacket on, with dark wash jeans. 

And he had a pizza in his hand. 

“Hey” Lance smiled brightly at Diego and his heart fluttered a little bit. 

“Hey. You brought pizza?” Diego questioned, stepping aside to let him in. 

“Yeah, and beer” He pulled the case of cheap beer up to show Diego. “ You seemed like maybe you’d like a more lowkey setting.” Lance moved forward heading towards the ring and said over his shoulder “plus I thought it’d be nice to get some alone time with you.” 

Diego could feel his face heat up and he was grateful that Lance’s back was turned. He followed him to the ring, where Lance had settled cross legged in the center, with the pizza box open and beer right next to it. The moon light from the windows above made it look kind of romantic. 

“Th-Thanks” Diego felt his face get hot in shame. He was 20 years old and still stumbling on his words. Pathetic. He sat down opposite Lance, keeping his eyes on the ground. 

“No problem. You like pepperoni, I hope?” Lance asked, shooting off that winning smile again. Diego just nodded.

“Perfect. And please take as much as you want, because I’m about to scarf this down. I’m starving.” Diego nodded again but this time with a smile. 

At first, they ate in silence, and Diego blamed himself. He couldn’t get his words straight and Lance thought he was weird and this was dumb and he was so _stupid_ and- 

“I’m sorry if you didn’t realize I meant a date.” Lance said, looking down at his plate.

“Huh?” Diego asked incredulously. 

“The silence right? I made you uncomfortable because I asked you out but you thought it was just hanging out and not a date.” He nodded as he said all this, deciding that that was the reason behind the stoney silence. 

“No!” Diego jolted forward a little bit, surprising even himself. He stopped and took a deep breath, and when his eyes were open, Lance was staring back at him. “It’s me. I-I have a st-stu-” Diego stopped himself, breathing out in frustration, looking up to the ceiling as if it would give him strength. 

“A stutter?” Lance offered.

Diego nodded, “I get fru-frus-frustrated and fe-fe-feel st-stu-stupd”. Diego finished staring down at his own hands. 

“Oh! The stutter doesn’t bother me.” Lance tried to reassure him but Diego wasn't convinced, looking at him in skepticism. “No really! I think it’s cute. I think you’re cute.” Lance ended softly and Diego’s heart was thrumming loudly in his ears. “I just wanna get to know the cute guy who works at the boxing gym I like, if you’ll let me?” 

And Diego felt his face get warm. He smiled shyly and nodded. 

They talked for hours, about everything. Diego told him a little about Ben and Klaus. Lance shared a story about getting caught putting a flaming bag of dog poop on his principal's porch. After that story and the story of Mom walking in on Diego singing a Spice Girls album, they couldn’t stop laughing. 

It was the most fun Diego had had in forever. 

In their storytelling, they had migrated closer to one another, with Diego sitting up and Lance lounging back on his elbows. And this is the closest Diego has ever been to a man who wasn’t one of his brothers or someone who was about to get beat up. 

He looked down at Lance’s mouth and swallowed. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted Lance to kiss him. 

And then Lance leaned up and did kiss Diego. It was sweet at first, just a gentle brush and then there was more pressure and Lance was sitting up. He was pulling Diego to him and Diego was pulling Lance closer by the shoulders and then Diego was on his back. They broke the kiss and panted heavily, and Diego just looked at him. 

“I’ve never been with a guy!” Diego rushed out (higher pitched than usual), realizing how quickly this situation could move, how quickly he _wanted_ this situation to move. 

“Oh! I’m so sorry Diego!” Lance pulled back, helping Diego up at the same time. “That was way too far. I’m sorry!” Lance apologized, looking guilty.

“No! It’s okay, I just...wan-wan-wanna slow d-do-down” Diego offered. 

“Yeah! For sure! I’m still really sorry.” He said earnestly and Diego reassured him it was okay. 

They slowed down and started talking more, kissing and making out here and there. It was really nice and romantic. 

And around 1am, Lance said he had to get home, so they started packing up. And as Diego walked him to the door of the gym, Lance told him he had a great time and that he’d love to do it again. They kissed at the door and Diego felt like he was walking on air to his bed. 

_Lance. He liked Lance._

Diego was 20 when he first kissed a guy.

The next time he saw Klaus, he casually mentioned that a guy he knows likes men and women. 

“Only men and women?” Klaus questioned between mouthfuls of pancakes. 

“Is there anything else?” Diego cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“Don’t be so closed minded, there is everything in between and of course, neither.” Klaus gestures wildly, as syrup drips down his chin. 

“He says men and women.” He spoke slowly.

“Ah, a bisexual then.” Klaus shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. 

_Bisexual._

_Huh, I’m bisexual._


End file.
